


With a Smile

by piginapoketuesday



Series: La Mia Vita Con Te (a Hannigram series) [4]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, In Character, Kissing, M/M, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb, Scars, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 06:06:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5153066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piginapoketuesday/pseuds/piginapoketuesday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hannibal and Will are recovering in a secret cabin. Hannibal wants to touch and kiss the scar he left on Will's stomach. Will can't bear the thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Will’s fingers moved carefully at the Theremin strings, making wavering, unsure music that filled their little place like an overflowing teacup.

A hand curled around his, changing his melody into something beautiful and vaguely unsettling. Hannibal’s breath on his neck filled his chest with the stickiness of lust and dread. “You play as you live. Without balance.”

Will’s voice was low and measured. “Aren’t you my balance, Dr. Lecter?” He turned slowly.

Hannibal lifted Will’s chin and kissed him, just grazing the flesh of his lips. “I am what I am.” His hands moved down Will’s body and began to untuck his dress shirt.

“No,” Will said, a hint of emotion coloring his voice, though he rested his head against Hannibal’s shoulder.

“Now it’s my turn to say please.” He smoothed Will’s back and thighs, comforting.

A ball of fear and revulsion coiled in his stomach. “I’m begging you.”

“Will, I have touched you more intimately than—”

The young professor put his arm around his lower abdomen. “Hannibal. Please. Don’t.”

Hannibal kissed from Will's temple to his flinching throat, calming his love. “If you let me, you may touch my wrists. I’ll allow your mouth on my neck.”

“Those wounds,” Will seethed, “I don’t feel guilt for. You deserved them. You deserved to bleed and suffer.”

“And you,” Hannibal said carefully, pressing against Will’s guarding hand, “Betrayed me. It’s not remorse that drives me to gentleness. A lover takes full care of his beloved.”

Tears stained the shoulder of Hannibal’s suit. “You left us to drown. _You took her away from me. _”__

__“I did love Abigail,” Hannibal said abruptly, touching Will’s cheek. “Her death was necessary.”_ _

__Will’s sad eyes looked up at him. “You punished me with her life.” His mouth twitched. “ _Mostro. _”_ _ __

__Hannibal’s jaw stiffened for only an instant, and he sat back no more than an inch. His eyes, however, were Dante’s River Styx. Teaming. Enraged. A crossroads. “It would cause you that much pain to feel my touch?”_ _

__“Gideon knew you were the Devil,” Will admitted, shaking despite the warmth of Hannibal's hands. “The Devil wants to taste each of my tender parts and call me his beloved.”_ _

__The doctor cocked his head almost imperceptibly. “Would you have me cut and hung once more, rather than bare your wound to me?”_ _

__Will swallowed. “No.”_ _

__The silence bled between them like ink. Then Hannibal stood from the bench and kissed Will softly on his forehead. “The last time you begged something of me, we lost each other. Not tonight.”_ _


	2. Chapter 2

In the mirror, Will saw the reverse of Hannibal’s smile, sewn into the flesh of his belly with such care and precision. Gutted, like the fish he’d been hooking, in the pristine kitchen. It wasn’t for convenience that night. It wasn’t to taste. It was the spilling of something that the doctor had once considered pure. To wash his kitchen, his place of worship, in Will’s blood was sacrilegious: an act of tainting something beautiful in order to force himself to never look back.

Hannibal appeared in the mirror behind him, lacing their fingers together and nuzzling at the curls behind Will’s ear. “It’s beautiful,” he said, lips caressing the back of Will’s neck. “Clean and light.”

Will fought the urge to cover his stomach. “It’s the ugliest thing in the world.”

Gently, Hannibal’s knuckles grazed along his lover’s throat. “Hurting the pair of you was the greatest loss I’ve endured in many years. She was my Mischa in another life.”

“You delight in wickedness,” Will sneered, his entire being a quiet storm, “Then berate yourself for the delight.”

Hannibal swallowed, and his features softened. “One cannot help with respect to whom they fall in love.”

“If you loved me, you would never have asked that I look in your eyes.”

The older man bowed his head and kissed a path over Will’s bare shoulder. “My whites are, indeed, very white.”

“You also have hepatitis. Perils of the diet, I suppose.” His enunciation of each syllable sounded like gunfire.

Two fingers pressed neatly against Will’s carotid, forcing the throb to beat in both of their bodies. “Understand that the vibrancy of your becoming was my only chance to touch you.”

Every inch of Will resonated with Hannibal, like the wail of a gong. “Why do I not cringe when you touch me?”

“You and I—“

“Are just alike,” Will finished.

“Can you love me wholeheartedly while hiding this piece of yourself?”

Will drew an unsteady breath. “I can’t even hate you wholeheartedly.”

“You never forgave me.”

“Not even for an instant.”

Hannibal pressed his mouth to Will’s chin. “If you must keep a piece of her untouched by me, I won’t deny that to you.”

“I won’t deny you your life,” Will whispered. His fingers traced the scar, and his cheek felt wet as soon as he closed his eyes.

Hannibal covered Will’s hand with his own, the closest he would ever come to that bloody smile. “Time and circumstance have returned us to this moment.”

Behind Will’s eyes, Abigail touched along the length of his scar, her bandaged throat turning red as she stroked. _A place was made for me in your world. ___

__Will remained in the dark with her, while his body stayed cradled in Hannibal’s embrace. “When the teacup shatters,” he said._ _


End file.
